While the endless stadium debate that we thought was dead but has come back to life like Glenn Close at the end of Fatal Attraction rages on, another community is preparing to make a pass at the team that calls it home.

For a fling, mind you. Not for a marriage.

When the Hamilton Tiger-Cats visit Moncton for their Touchdown Atlantic game against Calgary on Sept. 25, civic leaders there will be doing everything they can to convince the black and gold’s brass to set up shop in the Hub City for as many as four games in 2013 when the new Ivor Wynne will be under construction and the Ticats will be homeless.

“It’s probably totally unrealistic to think the Tiger-Cats would want to move all their home games out of their home market,” says Ian Fowler, the city’s general manager of economic development, tourism and culture. “But a portion of a season could be played in Moncton.”

So, when team president Scott Mitchell and president Bob Young step off the plane — not to mention CFL commissioner Mark Cohon — they can expect to be feted like kings. Fowler says he has no idea if they’d have any interest in entertaining such a notion but he plans to make his best pitch anyway and see if his city fits into their plans somehow.

“We have never sat with the Tiger-Cats or the league and discussed this in any detail,” Fowler says. “We’ve been introduced but we’ve never dated.”

So will the Cats be open to listening?

Yes. With a caveat.

Mitchell says he’s already heard from a number of places interested in hosting some games, some that make more sense than others. Regardless, he insists his first choice remains finding an answer closer to home so the season-ticket holders and other fans can be involved as much as possible. That would seem to preclude something as ambitious as Fowler proposes. But doesn’t rule out the East Coast altogether.

“I certainly wouldn’t preclude us playing a game or multiple games out there,” Mitchell says. “But our priority is exhausting the local and regional solutions.”

What could those be?

The Cats could play their home games at McMaster in front of 10,000 or even 15,000, assuming temporary seating is built. That would keep them in front of their fan base but a facility roughly half the size of Ivor Wynne would seemingly require them to absorb some level of financial hit.

There’s talk of playing at the University of Western Ontario in London or other nearby stadiums, but the financial situation would be similar and there’s no guarantee Ticat fans would travel. Same with playing in Toronto.

The idea’s been floated that they could play home games in their opponents’ CFL stadiums. While that would satisfy seat numbers, such a plan could put the Cats at a competitive disadvantage by making them the clear road team for all 18 games. And that would fly in the face of Mitchell’s stated position on satisfying the home fans.

Then there’s some combination of all the above. With Moncton thrown into the mix.

While playing a giant chunk of the schedule that far away would surely tick off some fans, playing in New Brunswick might be the Cats’ best option from a financial perspective.

Games in Moncton at the 21,000-seat stadium have been a success for the league over the past three years. The past two were sellouts and fewer than 1,000 seats remain for this one with Fowler sure they’d be gone by game time. In fact, he says there’s so much interest in the area that he’s been lobbying the league to double the Touchdown Atlantic festival to two games a year.

Further, the area has shown itself to be willing to part with its cash for sports and entertainment. The Moncton Wildcats always finish near the top of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League in attendance. Not that long ago, 85,000 folks there paid to see the Rolling Stones and U2 drew 75,000 just a month ago.

“Our geographic location gives us 1.2 million people within a gas tank’s drive,” Fowler says.

Chances are, it could work. Question is, would it work for the Ticats?